To understand the “no” vote cast on same-sex marriage by Rep. Steve Kirby, a Tacoman who usually sides with his fellow Democrats, look at how the people in his district voted in 2009 on the successful referendum giving gay couples “everything but marriage.”

In its new shape after post-census redistricting, Kirby’s diverse South Tacoma and east Lakewood district still leans heavily to the Democrats. But within its boundaries, voters opposed the expansion of domestic partnerships by a 55-45 margin.

Hence Kirby’s vote Wednesday against gay marriage.

“I didn’t vote against it because I was against it,” Kirby said Thursday. “I voted against it because the people in my district were against it. That’s what I’m supposed to do. ... That’s why they call me ‘representative.’”

The Legislature’s partisan caucuses have crunched the numbers, and lawmakers know how their new districts voted on Referendum 71. That vote might be the best gauge of a district’s opinion, even if it’s an imperfect one: Partnerships are not the same as marriage, and polls indicate a shift toward support of same-sex marriage in recent years.

In places with strong support or opposition to R-71, most lawmakers voted on marriage in concert with their constituents. That even occasionally crossed party lines, as with Kirby and some King County Republicans like Sen. Steve Litzow, whose Mercer Island-Bellevue district overwhelmingly backed R-71 with 64 percent support.

In some areas split down the middle – the districts centered on Federal Way, Mason County, the Gig Harbor peninsula and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, for example – their delegations to the Legislature split, too.

Other lawmakers took political risks.

Kirby’s fellow 29th district Democrats, Sen. Steve Conway and Rep. Connie Ladenburg, supported and even co-sponsored the gay marriage bill. Ladenburg is leaving to run for Pierce County Council; Conway said jobs, crime and education matter more to his district.

“I think it isn’t what I call the critical issue that our voters are going to make their decision to vote for me on,” Conway said.

Sen. Jim Kastama acknowledged his “yes” vote wouldn’t be popular back home in Puyallup, where just 42 percent of his district voted for R-71. But Kastama isn’t seeking re-election; he’s running for secretary of state. Statewide, 53 percent of voters supported R-71.

Opponents of gay marriage who bucked their districts include Democratic Sens. Jim Hargrove of Hoquiam and Paull Shin of Edmonds and Republican Rep. Jay Rodne of North Bend.

Rodne was a forceful voice against the bill, though he hails from a district that supported R-71 with 54 percent of votes. His fellow 5th district Republicans – Rep. Glenn Anderson and Sen. Cheryl Pflug – voted yes.

Some lawmakers who parted ways with their districts cited personal reasons for their break.

“My adopted family raised me as they raised their own children, with strong Christian values,” Shin said in a statement crediting his adoptive family for saving his life. “To this day, I cherish those values and try to live my life in accordance with their teachings. Therefore my vote against passage of this bill was one that was deeply personal. “

Two Republicans in the Legislature voted for same-sex marriage even though their districts opposed R-71 – and even though a national group has promised to fund primary challengers to Republicans who cast such votes.

GOP Sen. Joe Fain, a 31-year-old freshman senator from Auburn, comes from a district where fewer than 48 percent of voters backed R-71. A minuscule 36 percent supported it in GOP Rep. Maureen Walsh’s district – yet Walsh, who voted for the partnerships expansion in 2009, still won re-election and survived to champion same-sex marriage this week.

“My daughter came out of the closet a couple of years ago,” Walsh said in a widely noticed floor speech Wednesday. “... she’s met a person that she loves very much. And someday, by God, I want to throw a wedding for that kid.

“I hope that’s exactly what I can do. I hope she will not feel like a second-class citizen involved in something called a domestic partnership, which frankly sounds like a Merry Maids franchise to me.”

Jordan Schrader: jordan.schrader@thenewstribune.com

 • Gov. Chris Gregoire will sign gay marriage legislation into law on Monday. A4 Governor to sign gay marriage bill OLYMPIA — Gov. Chris Gregoire is scheduled to sign a measure into law on Monday that will legalize same-sex marriage in Washington state.

The House passed the bill on a 55-43 vote on Wednesday. The Senate approved the measure last week. Gregoire will sign the bill at 11:30 a.m. Monday.

The law would take effect 90 days after the session ends next month, but opponents have promised to fight back with a ballot measure that would allow voters to overturn it.

If opponents gather enough signatures to take their fight to the ballot, the law is put on hold pending the outcome of a November election. They must turn in more than 120,000 signatures by June 6 to challenge the proposed law. Gay-rights support

The percentage of voters in the new South Sound legislative districts who supported Referendum 71, “everything but marriage,” in 2009.

2nd: 41.3 percent.

25th: 42.32 percent.

26th: 49.08 percent.

27th: 60.45 percent.

28th: 48.66 percent.

29th: 45.28 percent.

30th: 49.43 percent.

31st: 43.8 percent.

Source: Senate Republican Caucus